PM and O’Farrell draw pistols

NSW Premier
Barry O’Farrell
pulled out a water pistol at his first meeting with Prime Minister
Julia Gillard
since his landslide election victory.

He joked the pair could use the plastic toy, in a Royal Easter Show bag he presented to Ms Gillard outside Kirribilli House, if the meeting got “really difficult".

Their jostling about transport funding didn’t get that heated, but both leaders stuck to their guns.

“We started with my determination to build the north-west . . . rail [link] and, of course, the Prime Minister restated her contention that the Parramatta to Epping rail line had to be built as well," Mr O’Farrell said later.

The Prime Minister would not agree to the NSW Premier’s request to divert $2.1 billion in federal funding from the Epping to Parramatta line to the north-west rail link but Mr O’Farrell said he was “hopeful" there was room to negotiate.

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Ms Gillard described the discussions as “positive" and “constructive", but insisted before the meeting that “the federal government will decide where federal government resources go".

The 14-kilometre Epping to Parramatta line was first promised in 1994 by the then NSW Transport Minister Bruce Baird, whose son Mike is the state’s Treasurer.

The project was shelved by the Carr Labor government in 2003 before being revived in a surprise move by the Gillard government just before the last federal election.

The NSW Coalition wants to prioritise the north-west link, to connect suburbs that include Rouse Hill, Castle Hill and the Norwest Business Park with the city centre.

Mr O’Farrell said he accepted “the pre-eminent role of the federal government to allocate its money" but would continue to push for the funds to be diverted.

The Premier told Ms Gillard NSW needed more than a third of the federal government’s $1.8 billion Health and Hospitals Fund.

Health Minister
Jillian Skinner
and the new head of NSW Health,
Mary Foley
, were finalising a report on whether the 2011 Council of Australian Governments heads of agreement “would deliver better outcomes".

Mr O’Farrell reiterated his concern that a national schools curriculum could “dumb down" education in NSW but endorsed the proposed national occupational health and safety laws.

Yesterday, he announced the appointment of a former Howard-era head of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet,
Peter Shergold
, to chair the board of the new Public Service Commission.

Professor Shergold will oversee a a three to six-month review of the public service, including staff numbers, pay and appointments.